Last week, Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, engaged in a Twitter war with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) over the city’s ongoing gun violence problem. Monday, she published an op-ed in the Washington Post blaming pro-gun Republicans like Cruz for the city’s sky-high murder rate, claiming the lenient GOP could save Chicago by instituting more stringent federal gun measures.

The article, titled “Ted Cruz and others should stop using Chicago as a punching bag,” essentially claims that lax federal gun laws allow bad guys in Chicago to buy guns without a background check, reiterates that most of the guns used in Chicago shootings come from out of state, and blames Republicans in Congress for failing to enact universal background checks and to close the “gun show loophole.”

“Sixty percent of firearms owned or used illegally recovered in Chicago come from outside Illinois,” she writes. “These guns don’t recognize state lines or city boundaries. Cruz said the five U.S. cities with the highest murder rates ‘have had Democratic mayors for decades and aggressive gun control policies — none seems to be working.” He’s making my case for me: As long as people can drive from Illinois to Indiana and purchase a personal arsenal without a background check, Chicago’s gun laws will always be as weak as those of the closest permissive state.”

Gun control doesn’t work. Look at Chicago. Disarming law-abiding citizens isn’t the answer. Stopping violent criminals—prosecuting & getting them off the street—BEFORE they commit more violent crimes is the most effective way to reduce murder rates. Let’s protect our citizens.

Gun control doesn’t work. Look at Chicago. Disarming law-abiding citizens isn’t the answer. Stopping violent criminals—prosecuting & getting them off the street—BEFORE they commit more violent crimes is the most effective way to reduce murder rates. Let’s protect our citizens. https://t.co/znHO31gDH2

60% of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago come from outside IL—mostly from states dominated by coward Republicans like you who refuse to enact commonsense gun legislation. Keep our name out of your mouth.

60% of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago come from outside IL—mostly from states dominated by coward Republicans like you who refuse to enact commonsense gun legislation. Keep our name out of your mouth. https://t.co/yVM4JHL3xypic.twitter.com/pr613A3dpf

“Given the tragedy that’s happened in Texas over the last few weeks, tragedies plural, it’s surprising to me that Senator Cruz would do anything other than work his butt off to better represent the citizens of Texas,” Lightfoot said. “There’s a great need across this country for federal leadership in particular to step up and come forward with a real plan to deal with the gun violence that we’re seeing not only in cities like Chicago but really across the country.”

“For him to make a political point, or try to, I should say try to make a political point, out of the horrible tragedy that has been unfolding in Texas is really offensive not just to Chicago but to the people in Texas who are still and will be forever changed because of the violence there,” Lightfoot added. “What we ought to do is not try to score political points. We ought to try to come together and solve one of the core problems with gun violence which is this patchwork of systems in different states, different neighboring states having different systems, because the federal government hasn’t stepped up to do its job.”